* * *
If she had any doubts?
What abouthisdoubts? The frank disapproval that had radiated from him the other night when Lady Dorothy had first mooted the subject? Had he changed his mind? He couldn’t have missed the bond that had developed between her and his mother over the last few days, and Oliver Dawson clearly loved his mother. And he’d witnessed her dealing with an emergency with another patient today. Did he, in fact, think she might be the right person for this important job now?
Approveof her, even?
The very idea made her head spin all over again. Why was it suddenly such a desirable thing to have Oliver approve of her? Bella tried to shake it off as being no more than a way of redeeming herself for the klutzy mistakes she seemed to have been programmed to make in front of him up till now. A desire to prove that she wasn’t incompetent and irresponsible. The way she had today?
Wally had had his scan now. A procedure that had shown Bella’s inexpert diagnosis to be correct. There was a growth in the elderly man’s head that was causing his symptoms. He was scheduled for an MRI scan and the more detailed results would determine whether the tumour was operable.
He was resting comfortably in his own room now and Bella was back with Lady Dorothy, testing her blood-sugar levels again.
She couldn’t stop thinking about what Oliver had said, though. And now she was fighting a desire to win more of his approval.
It pulled her back in time. To those way too familiar episodes of being desperate to win back the approval of her father. Or Kate. But then, Oliver wasn’t family. She wasn’t even attracted to him, except in that pining after a movie-star,unattainablekind of way.
Letting herself think for a moment that that unattainability might be up for negotiation was guaranteed to make her head spin to a degree where she might do something really silly, so Bella made a determined effort to plant herself firmly back in reality. She focused on what Lady Dorothy was now saying. Oliver had been right. His mother wasn’t giving up on trying to persuade her to become her private nurse.
‘You’d love it, I promise. We have access to a beach that’s so cut off other people can only get to it by boat so it’s virtually private. And’ – Lady Dorothy reached out to touch Bella’s hand – ‘it would mean so much, dear. To both me and Oliver.’
Really?
‘Your son thinks I’m an idiot,’ Bella heard herself blurt out.
Well, maybe he didn’t think she was quite as stupid as he had done but it wouldn’t take much to wipe out the better impression he’d gained today, would it? Bella knew perfectly well she was highly likely to do something else that he would think ill-considered. Or irresponsible.
Lady Dorothy was silent for a moment. ‘Oliver didn’t have the happiest childhood,’ she said then. ‘He learned self-control and responsibility at an age when most children were simply having fun.’
She sounded sad about it. As though she considered it a failing on her part as a mother. Bella found herself curling her own hand around Lady Dorothy’s. Very gently, so she didn’t hurt the still red, swollen joints.
Oliver had had an unhappy childhood? Bella had always found that sadness was very contagious.
‘He’s brilliant at what he does,’ Lady Dorothy continued, ‘and I couldn’t be more proud of him, but…’ She lowered her voice. ‘He’s just a little bitstuffy, don’t you think?’
Bella gasped. This was as outrageous as Oliver making jokes about his mother.
In fact, there was an amused gleam in Lady Dorothy’s eyes that reminded her very strongly of the one she’d seen in Oliver’s.
‘It would do him good to get shaken up a little,’ Lady Dorothy murmured. ‘To have some fun.’
Oh… but that concept appealed to Bella no end. The streak of mischief that she knew she really ought to grow out of was firing up right now. Alert and sending delicious, persuasive bursts of energy through her body. Teasing Oliver Dawson?
It had often worked with her father.
And Kate.
But to try it on Oliver? No-o-o. It would be like playing with fire. Lighting matches near something when she had no idea what the result might be.
A disappointing fizzle?
A conflagration?
An explosion that could cause all manner of collateral damage?
Hmm. Not a good idea. That temptation would have to be filed under the other reasons that weren’t quite morally acceptable.
Like solving the problem of moving out of Kate’s house to give her and Connor some privacy as they started the rest of their lives together.
